‘Ethel, what in tarnation is a tank doing on the get-on of I-80?’

August 20, 2020

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Anybody lose a military vehicle at the I-80 get-on in Overton, Neb.? Nebraska State Patrol has a 20 on it and they want to hear from you if you got your ears on, with a quickness, Scooter.

Come on?

Oh yeah, you read that right. It’s a tank. Well, it looks a lot like a tank, but it’s actually some of the bridge-building equipment the South Dakota National Guard 211th Engineer Company was using for training ops in California recently. Apparently the government hired an outside contractor to haul the thing from California back to South Dakota, where it originated.

According to a news release from Nebraska State Patrol, this morning, a trooper was made aware that the vehicle, which is used in engineering operations, was sitting on a parked trailer at the Interstate 80 on-ramp near Overton. NSP has since learned that the trailer was abandoned sometime yesterday by the driver of a trucking company contracted to move the vehicle for the Guard.

NSP is working with the South Dakota National Guard to return the vehicle to South Dakota, as well as locate the driver who abandoned the trailer and military vehicle.

Well, I reckon they are.

No word yet on whether or not charges will be brought against the driver.

Every day the news brings new and ridiculous things that make writing satire a lost cause. I’m going to start calling it “True Life is better than Fiction,” instead of satire and just roll myself right on into the swing of 2020.

In the meantime, if you forgot your load on the get-on of I-80 in Overton, Neb., you ought to go on back and face the music. Bless your heart.